The
winners of the Association for Organics Recycling’s prestigious Annual
Awards were announced at a gala dinner which took place on Tuesday 27
January 2009.
The Association for Organics Recycling’s Annual Awards showcase excellence and innovation across the composting industry. Introduced in 2001, the Awards have rapidly become established in setting benchmarks for the composting industry. The Award presentations form part of the Association for Organics Recycling’s Annual Conference and were presented at a prestigious dinner held at the National Motorcycle Museum in the West Midlands. The winners were:
1 The Jim Ballance Compost Marketing Award (sponsored by Viridor)
Winner: Vital Earth
In
2008, Vital Earth relaunched an expanded range of composts to the
garden trade, supported by a 2007 WRAP report, showing 28% of gardeners
believed climate change affected their own garden and even in 2005, 19%
of gardeners were already choosing peat-free compost. The relaunch
involved major re-branding, adding ten new products, all with
specialist high performance uses, repackaging the range, developing new
literature at point of sale, and communicating these initiatives to the
garden trade through PR and advertising. Vital Earth expanded the
range to over 30 products, making it a one stop shop for its 100%
natural, sustainable and UK-sourced green growing media.
The judges were particularly impressed with the responsive nature of Vital Earth to successfully re-launch with an expanded product line based on sound marketing research and perceived market needs; its refinement of products, promotional activities and the demonstrable success of the campaign through its increased growth in outlets.
